We overcame a massive inferiority complex to talk to the novelist Chang-Rae Lee after his panel session at the Ubud festival. We covered the basics: how he writes, where he writes, when he writes and why he writes.

Thanks to Summa Durie of the UWRF Media Centre for arranging the interview.

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In this week’s podcast quiz we’re giving away five copies of Chang-Rae Lee’s The Surrendered courtesy of National Bookstore.

1. He majored in Literature and then he got a job on Wall Street. Why?
2. What was the first thing he ever wrote that made him think he could be a writer?
3. He compares the scale of The Surrendered to that of the work of which artist?
4. How does he know when a novel is finished?
5. Apart from his computer in a quiet room, what does he need in order to write?
6. What was his favorite compliment from a reader?
7. Why does he write?

Post your answers in Comments.

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The winner of last week’s podcast quiz is claarzero. Congratulations! Please post your full name in Comments (It won’t be published) and we’ll alert you when your prize has been delivered to National Bookstore in Rockwell.

Update: You may pick up your book at the Customer Service counter, National Bookstore, Power Plant Mall, tel (02)8974562.

1. “92% to please the parents, and 8% to feel responsible”
2. He wrote this one story in high school about a lonely kid who’s writing a letter to his friend.
3. Diego Rivera. He said it’s like making a mural.
4. When he starts repeating himself (i.e., a similar scene)
5. A very comfortable chair.
6. A female bookseller from the South of America wrote to him and said she feels like she is the character in the book (Aloft).
7. For the creative surge. He said writing gives him a way to think about the world privately.

1. He got a job on Wallstreet to please his parents (and to feel responsible).
2. He wrote a short story in high school about a lonely kid who was away from home and writing a letter to his friend.
3. Diego Rivera
4. “You know when a thing is finished when you start to repeat yourself”
5. “Very good chairs”
6. “I don’t know how this book did it but after reading Jerry Battle’s story, I must say that I feel that I am Jerry Battle.”
7. It satisfies the urge he has for creation. It gives him a way to think about the world privately.

1. To please his parents and to feel responsible
2. About a lonely kid away from home and writing a letter to a friend
3. Diego Rivera – a mural
4. When you start repeating yourself
5. Good chairs
6. Reader was a black female bookseller in the South who wrote that she feels like she is Jerry – character from his 3rd novel
7. Because it satisfies some urge for creation and it allows him to think about the world.

1. He wanted to please his parents and feel responsible.
2. He wrote a story about a lonely kid away from home writing a letter to his friend.
3. Diego Rivera.
4. He knows when a novel is finished when he starts to repeat himself.
5. A very good chair.
6. His favorite compliment was when a bookseller told him that she felt that she was Jerry Battle in Aloft.
7. He writes because it satifies his urge for creation and it gives him a way to think about the world privately.

1. To please the parents (92%), and to have sense of responsibility (8%)

2. Back in high school (in Exeter), he wrote a story about a lonely kid, who is away from home and is writing to a friend. This is really emotional for him as the story really reflects himself, but when people read and moved by it, that’s when he realized that this is it, he could be a writer.

3. He compares it to murals, like that of Diego Rivera’s.

4. When he write a scene that is similar to the scene that he was written before, that’s when he become aware that he already covered that and a cue to end the story.

5. A good comfortable chair.

6. From his 3rd novel “Aloft”, he was given a note by a black female bookseller from American south, telling him that she feels that she’s Jerry Battle (the protagonist). This made him realized that the essence and spirit of Jerry Battle really lives and speaks to everyone no matter what’s the cultural or racial background.

2. In high school, he wrote a story about a kid who is lonely and away from home; the kid is writing a story to his friend. Chang-Rae Lee and the people he showed it to were moved by the story.

3. Diego Rivera, the mural painter

4. When you start to repeat yourself. When you have covered everything you need to cover.

5. a very good, very comfortable chair

6. For Aloft, he got a note from a black female bookseller in the south of the US. She mentioned that she didn’t know how the book did it, but she felt like she was Jerome Battle (the protagonist). He thought that it was a wonderful comment because it had something to do with the character’s essence and not his cultural background.

7. Writing satisfies some urge he has for creation and it gives him a way to think about the world privately.

No answer to the poll here, but I’m so glad that I got to hear this interview with Mr. Lee. There are so many moments that I could pick out as my favorites (Exeter’s creative atmosphere, having family in Korea, not writing in coffee shops, etc.) but there’s just something organic about the way he discusses his life as a writer.